Kyrillitsa'99: The competition

Kyrillitsa'99 was organised by the Moscow-based Type Designers Association, in co-operation with two other Russian art societies: the Golden Bee Association, and the Academy of Graphic Design. It was sponsored by ParaType, the renowned manufacturer of digital fonts and the developer of typographic software, and LiniaGrafic, the printing company known in Moscow as 'the printer to the design community'.

The goal of the competition was to promote and encourage the design of Cyrillic typefaces. Cyrillic alphabet is used for Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, and a great number of regional--Slavic and non-Slavic--languages of the former Soviet Union. The competition also featured a special category of pictorial typefaces that included ornaments, dingbats, icons, symbols and other pictorial items. Typefaces designed or released in 1997 and 1998 were eligible for entry in the competition.

Kyrillitsa'99 was judged by Tagir Safayev, of ParaType Ltd.; Sergei Serov, of the Golden Bee Association; Boris Trofimov, of 'Graficheskiy dizayn: Boris Trofimov'; Arkady Troyanker, of the Academy of Graphic Design; and Maxim Zhukov, of the United Nations. The jury was chaired by Vladimir Yefimov, of the Type Designers Association, the main organizer of the Kyrillitsa'99 type design cometition.

Fifty-one designers from eight countries--Belarus, Canada, Germany, Japan, Russia, Ukraine, United States, Yugoslavia--took part in the competition; one hundred and forty-two entries competed in three design categories: Text, Display and Pictorial typefaces. Five winning entries in each category have been adjudged Awards of Excellence in Type Design.

Special prizes were also awarded: the Vadim Prize, of the Academy of Graphic Design--for a lifetime contribution to the art of typography; the Golden Buki Prize, of the Golden Bee Association--for the outstanding contribution to the development of Cyrillic typography and international typographic communications; the Galina Prize, of ParaType--for the creative exploration of the Russian typographic tradition; the Way to Go! Prize, of the Type Designers Association--for the successful debut in Cyrillic type design.

Kyrillitsa'99: The awards

Text typefaces

Georgia, by Matthew Carter, United States [1]
Humanist 531 (Syntax), by Isay Slutsker, Russia [2]
New Letter Gothic, by Gayaneh Bagdasaryan, Russia [3]
Sylfaen, by John Hudson, Canada [4]
Verdana, by Matthew Carter, United States [5]

Special prizes

The Vadim Prize (for a lifetime contribution to the art of typography): Matthew Carter, United States
The Golden Buki Prize: John Hudson, Canada, for Sylfaen [4]
The Galina Prize: Albert Kapitonov, Russia, for Reforma-Grotesk [16]
The Way to Go! Prize: Manvel Shmavonyan, Russia, for Hybrid [17]; Vladimir Pertsov, Russia, for Pertsov Skoropis [18]